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20 July, 2013

Changes to the LARP currency system

Now that we’ve looked at the way the system works, let’s make
a few modifications to the set up.

Instead of gold as the standard unit of currency, let’s
switch to silver. It may not be very historically accurate, but we’ll work off
a standard metric coinage to make it easier on our mathematics. We will also
give our coins some names to add a bit more flavour to the system.

One Gold Crown = Ten Silver Ducats

One Silver Ducat = One Hundred Copper Pennies

Gold Crowns are issued
by a central imperial mint. They are called a crown because they bear the
symbol of the empire’s crown on one side of the coin. Gold crowns are the preferred
currency of the nobility, since they are accepted everywhere and have a high
value for their portability.

Silver Ducats are
issued by the various dukes around the empire. Ducat means Duke’s coin, and
each duke mints their own with distinctive heraldry. Ducats are typically only
legal tender in the regions controlled by a duke, this helps ensure that a duke’s
serfs and peasants do not flee to neighbouring regions…their money simply isn’t
worth as much in other territories.

Copper pennies are
minted in various towns according to a few fairly standard archetypes, a common
weighting of copper is found in them. A peasant may carry pennies minted in
three or more ducal regions. Pennies might be more common as a trade coin if it
weren’t for the fact that they have such a low relative worth, someone would
have to carry a small sack filled with pennies to get the same value as a small
purse of silver, or even a single gold coin.

Under this system, the ducat becomes the typical unit of
measure.

A single ducat is typically the price of meals for a week (or
5 pennies per meal for 3 meals a day = 21 x 5 pennies, you get a little loyalty
bonus at the local inn because you eat there for the whole week, good meals
might costs a bit more though)

A single ducat also covers a single room for a week (or 20
pennies per night, because innkeepers are less trustworthy of wanderers just
passing through).

10 ducats will cover food and lodgings for a month at a
regular inn, including stabling for a horse.

A peasant is typically paid a gold crown (ten ducats) a
month, but they more commonly see this as food and lodging automatically covered
by their employer/lord. They might only see a few pennies a day which they
often gamble away or spend on alcohol and other things that make their lives a
bit more tolerable.

Soldiers and competent tradespeople might get paid the
equivalent of two or three crowns a month. Soldiers would tend to see their
payment as a better quality of lodgings and food, perhaps staying in military
barracks or in the local duke’s castle, and maybe eating well once a week at a
feast in the duke’s great hall.

Thus a duke keeps account of the peasants, serfs, servants
and professionals in their region by accounting for how much money is flowing
through the area. Taxes might be imposed on these lower levels of society, but
most don’t actually have much in the way of cash (taxes would be far more
effective on the soldiers, middle classes, merchants and adventurers who
actually have access to regular coinage).

With these changes to the system of currency, we can look at
influences a bit differently. Low levels of influence aren’t meant to do a lot,
just give people an edge in certain fields. Mid levels should give their
wielders a significant benefit, pushing their potential beyond that of a single
person. High levels should be the kinds of things that give Dukes their
controlling influence over the region.

So a very low level influence action (lvl 1) would be
capable of producing a ducat; or enough to cover a good meals and drinks for a
week (and certainly make them favourable to you). A moderate level influence action
(lvl 3) would be capable of generating a ten ducats; or the equivalent of expenses
for a poor quality bodyguard/retainer/hireling for a couple of days. A high
level influence action (lvl 5) would be capable of generating a ten gold crowns
(one hundred ducats); or the equivalent of a highly trained bodyguard at all
times. Nobles might be able to generate powerful influence actions (lvl 7)
capable of producing squads of trained soldiers, or incredible influence
actions (lvl 9 or higher) capable of maintaining standing armies.

With this in mind, let’s use an exponential scaling factor
of around 3.

Lvl 1 = 100 pennies (1
ducat)

Lvl 2 = 300 pennies (3
ducats)

Lvl 3 = 1000 pennies
(1 crown)

Lvl 4 = 3000 pennies (3
crowns)

Lvl 5 = 10000 pennies
(10 crowns)

Lvl 6 = 30000 pennies
(30 crowns)

Lvl 7 = 100000 pennies
(100 crowns)

Etc…

We want to prompt players to improve the levels in their
spheres of influence, it helps move things forward, drives the story, and
forces them into conflict with one another. It might take three months to spend
enough influence actions increase from one level to the next, and a player
might think it is just as worthwhile to spend their actions generating three
times as many actions in the short term…but if they invest, they’ll be able to
spend influence at triple the equivalent level for every month thereafter. Patient
and careful players will be rewarded (as long as they can hold out long
enough).

Blog Note

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